AGA 210 Setup - Page 7

WarrenAmy&Maddy · #**151** 12/22/2007, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gabe3d
I previously had T5s on my old tank and the color and growth were fantastic. After trying practically all the bulbs on the market for 250SE, I don't think i will be able to get the color I am striving for. It'll be hard for me to give you guys good feedback since they will be only setup for a few days, when i feel that the corals have adjusted to the new type of lighting and intensity I'll give you guys some better feedback. Hopefully at that time my corals won't be all dead or bleached.

hello
have been following your thread - your set up is very nice!

we are considering upgrade to 210
from our 125 (we priced the all glass tank yesterday - 875)... so you are giving me some great ideas and really enjoy seeing the pics of your system and the behind the scenes set up as well plumbing etc.

also considering switching over from LPS to SPS
and in process of trying to figure out the lighting will need... was leaning towards halides under the assumption that they would provide the best lite for these corals... planning on supplementing w/ vho that i currently use (x6 5 ft vho bulbs on the 125)...

seeing you switch out your halides makes me question purchasing them and wondering more about your reasons for doing so.

i know a lot of people talk about heat and power consumption using halides - were these factors in your decision to switch these out?... or do you just feel that you might get better color using the others?

also do you know the overall power consumption of your system?

thanks and regards

gabe3d · #**152** 12/22/2007, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cwilson
*bag of ice pressed against swolen chin from JAW HITTING THE FLOOR*

beautiful tank. everything about it is SO sweet! those fish are absolutely STUNNING

"wow" thats all i can say

Thanks

Quote:

Originally posted by ReefEze
Cam I ask what type of overflows you have on that tank? Internal or external? Custom made?

I just use the regular Megaflow overflows that AGA offers. The only thing i did to them was remove all the teeth and used gutter guard.

Quote:

Originally posted by mothra
Gabe

It was good meeting you today. Thanks for the L3's, can't wait to put them to use. You're tank looks great. Keep us posted on how that skimmer works out!

If you ever need someone to go riding with at Kirk hit me up!

Jacob.

Great meeting you as well.

Alright i'll let you know if i head up there anytime. BTW, the place i mentioned to you yesterday was Avon, CO.

Gabe

gabe3d · #**153** 12/22/2007, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by WarrenAmy&Maddy
hello
have been following your thread - your set up is very nice!

we are considering upgrade to 210
from our 125 (we priced the all glass tank yesterday - 875)... so you are giving me some great ideas and really enjoy seeing the pics of your system and the behind the scenes set up as well plumbing etc.

also considering switching over from LPS to SPS
and in process of trying to figure out the lighting will need... was leaning towards halides under the assumption that they would provide the best lite for these corals... planning on supplementing w/ vho that i currently use (x6 5 ft vho bulbs on the 125)...

seeing you switch out your halides makes me question purchasing them and wondering more about your reasons for doing so.

i know a lot of people talk about heat and power consumption using halides - were these factors in your decision to switch these out?... or do you just feel that you might get better color using the others?

also do you know the overall power consumption of your system?

thanks and regards

Power was a concern for me as well so that is one small reason i switched out the light.

Total power consumption is pretty decent for my tank as of last week, it should be better now.
MH+t5 = 980
Lunar = 2
Return = 150
CL = 345
Refugium = 4
UV = 53
Fans (4 of them) = 48 total
Chiller = never measured

I'll give you some more reading this week when everything is setup.

gabe3d · #**154** 12/22/2007, 01:17 PM

Spent six hours last night until 3AM to build my light rack and it came out terrible. The Aluminum i used was just too thin and it started bending. Looks like another trip to HD today. I might have to reconsider whether or not I will hang the ballast with the light rack.

At least i got one thing done yesterday that i'm happy with. I got the larger impeller to upgrade my Dart to a super Dart; 3600gph vs 4300gph.

You've heard of spaghetti code, here is spaghetti T5. There are so many freaking wires with 9 T5s!

Jeremy Blaze · #**155** 12/22/2007, 01:39 PM

Sweet! How wide is that? I take it you are not going to stagger the bulbs?

Where can I get info about this dart upgrade< thats the first I have heard.

gabe3d · #**156** 12/22/2007, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeremy Blaze
Sweet! How wide is that? I take it you are not going to stagger the bulbs?

Where can I get info about this dart upgrade< thats the first I have heard.

It is 23'' exactly.

Yeah, not staggering them anymore. I wanted to see how it looked without staggering them first and i tried it out last night and can't visually see anything wrong annoying to me so i'll keep it this way. It also makes it easier on the frame building.

Jeremy Blaze · #**157** 12/22/2007, 01:56 PM

Cool. How high are you planning on having them above the display?

One thing I just heard that kinda steers me away is the maintanice on these. Keeping the salt creep off the bulbs and reflectors would be quite a chore.

gabe3d · #**158** 12/24/2007, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeremy Blaze
Cool. How high are you planning on having them above the display?

One thing I just heard that kinda steers me away is the maintanice on these. Keeping the salt creep off the bulbs and reflectors would be quite a chore.

I'm thinking around 4-5 inches but that might change later on. Good thing is that it will be hanging so changing it won't be a hassle at all.

T5s are for sure more maintenance since there are more bulbs to clean.

mothra · #**159** 12/24/2007, 01:35 PM

T5 is definitely more maintenance, that's one of the reasons why I decided to get away from them, but it was always a love hate relationship for me

I ran all my wiring in 1/2" PVC pipe which cleaned it up, that was for a 6 bulb setup, 9 bulbs wouldn't fit in 1/2". You could use something like this wire duct to clean it up:

This stuff can take heat, but it might get a little soft sitting right on the heat source.

gabe3d · #**160** 12/27/2007, 06:02 AM

Thanks Jacob, I looked at those wire duct but it looks kinda big though. I'll probably do what you did and use some PVC pipes instead.

Finally got some work done today and finished doing my Closed Loop and Lighting. Just need to make an enclosure and add some fans for the light and I should be good. The closed loop is pretty much done, quite simple but gets the job done.

gabe3d · #**161** 12/30/2007, 08:27 PM

Here are some new pics with the T5 lights. Colors are a little different. Blues are not as pronounce in corals but green and pink looks a little better. These are the bulbs i settled with
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Aquablue
Procolor
Blue Plus
Procolor
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

gabe3d · #**162** 12/30/2007, 08:28 PM

The picture is close to how it looks like but i'll need to create a white balance profile for the new lights. Here is a comparison between MH + T5 and T5 alone

T5 Only

MH and T5

Reeftanks6 · #**163** 12/30/2007, 09:00 PM

does your purple pick at a lot of your algae and also do u have a regal angle and if so does it pick at any of your corals

gabe3d · #**164** 12/30/2007, 09:12 PM

Purple tang doesn't eat any of the nuisance algae but it will gladly eat dry seaweed that i feed it. I do have a regal angel and it does not pick at any corals besides sponges, if you consider that as corals.

Quote:

Originally posted by Reeftanks6
does your purple pick at a lot of your algae and also do u have a regal angle and if so does it pick at any of your corals

Reeftanks6 · #**165** 12/30/2007, 09:20 PM

yea i thought purples pick at algae what tang do you think picks at algae a lot by the way your tank looks great take a look at my build thread

gabe3d · #**166** 12/30/2007, 09:45 PM

Thanks.

Just from my experience i think Naso and basically any Rabbitfish will eat most of any algae. However the only nuisance ones that it will eat are the leafy ones and the ones that bunch up into balls, I do see my naso graze a lot on the LR so perhaps it may eat hair algae.

Where is your build thread?

Quote:

Originally posted by Reeftanks6
yea i thought purples pick at algae what tang do you think picks at algae a lot by the way your tank looks great take a look at my build thread

Reeftanks6 · #**167** 12/30/2007, 09:49 PM

i am adding some pics so it will be on the first page in a couple minutes and what do u think is the best algae eating tang for a 90

tankgeeks · #**168** 01/03/2008, 04:24 AM

anymore pics? im debating about switching to all t5's myself....still glad you made the swap?

gabe3d · #**169** 01/04/2008, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tankgeeks
anymore pics? im debating about switching to all t5's myself....still glad you made the swap?

I didn't take any more pics but if you want to see something in particular then i can take one for you.

I'm still very happy with the switch from MH to T5. There is no doubt that my tank runs less hot then my MH. The active cooling i have on the T5s helps a lot, something that you can't do for MH. I used to use the fans for evaporation but now they are used for cooling the light. My evaporation has gone down significantly, 1/3 of what it use to be and my tank runs no hotter than 77 now where as before it would get at 80 (house is at a constant 74 with heater ever since the winter started). The only regret i have is that some of my corals won't look as nice, especially my blue tipped pink milli and teal staghorn.

yoboyjdizz · #**170** 01/04/2008, 02:39 PM

Tank looks really good! Love the pictures, very clean.

MO Will · #**171** 01/05/2008, 04:32 PM

Congratulations on a beautifu tank!

I am thinking of switching to T5s - if you used a different bulb combination could you bring out the blues better?

Thanks

tcmfish · #**172** 01/05/2008, 05:23 PM

Different tangs eat different algae but yes very nice set-up.

gabe3d · #**173** 01/06/2008, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by yoboyjdizz
Tank looks really good! Love the pictures, very clean.

Thanks

Quote:

Originally posted by MO Will
Congratulations on a beautifu tank!

I am thinking of switching to T5s - if you used a different bulb combination could you bring out the blues better?

Thanks

I'm not sure what T5 bulb that might be though. I'm looking at the spectral plot of a Reeflux 10k on an electronic ballast and want to find if there is a T5 similar to it but i'm having a hard time. The reeflux is the only MH bulb i've ever seen that makes the blue vibrant turquoise. I'll have to buy some more bulbs to try out but the selection for 60" are quite limited. I'm hoping the KZ Fiji and Red might be able to help.

Quote:

Originally posted by tcmfish
Different tangs eat different algae but yes very nice set-up.

Thanks

Very true, my purple tang's algae diet is very limited compared to my naso's. It only eats the dry seaweed from ocean nutrition.